


Candlelight

by SelenitaLunar



Series: Tony & Pepper [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Destined Souls, F/M, Fantasy, First Meetings, Magic, Mistery, Pepperony Week, Pepperony week 2018, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-23 12:25:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15606234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenitaLunar/pseuds/SelenitaLunar
Summary: It's young Virginia's birthday and she just blowed out the candle on her birthday cake. What happens next, will change her life forever.





	Candlelight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [igotyoufirst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/igotyoufirst/gifts).



> The characters belong to Marvel/Disney (I wish I owned them) and I don't get any profit from this writing. Minor descriptions of violence in this one. I labeled it Mature just to be sure.

It's Virginia Potts's 25th birthday today. She's been waiting for this day for so long; They promised she'll see her best friend again after what feels like forever. But she's on her third cup of coffee and Natasha still hasn't come. They won't even let Virginia call her, Obie and his men. She's worried sick, but she blames the too-quick beating of her heart on the coffee. As long as she's here, they won't hurt Nat, and she's been nothing but obedient to those Hydra scumbags. As long as she gets results in her laboratory with that drug, she has nothing to fear from them. And she does! They need her. No use worrying about it, since when her friend does come and sees her, she's so sure Natasha will just tease her about the fact that the only thing she gains every year is a new wrinkle in her baby face.

The waitress approaches her table, but Virginia only acknowledges her when she speaks. Holding a strawberry shortcake, the waitress greets her a very happy birthday. She further explains that Natasha told them to give her the cake if she's over three hours late. Virginia thanks the waitress and only then realizes the time. She'll have to go soon. Damn it!

She stares at the single candle on the cake. It's been a long time since she's felt so sad. She closes her eyes and wishes she wouldn't feel this alone anymore. But she won't let Nat know she's moping, so she bites her lip, shuts lonely Virginia Potts inside and opens her eyes. She plasters a smile on her face. It's a cute cake, and her friend made sure to add a tiny chocolate cartoon puppy detail. The smile becomes easier to keep.

It's half past six. She closes her eyes again, takes a deep breath and blows out the candle. She opens her eyes and places the cake carefully on the table, but she feels a hard stare directed at her. She looks to her left and she almost jumps—she hadn't felt anything up until now and the man who was staring was standing right next to her table. Rumlow would be disappointed. She shrugs off the thought.

"Excuse me?" She never liked being stared at, but she isn't one to fold. Especially not today.

The dark haired man keeps staring at her like she's grown another head. He's about her own age, shorter than average, and looks better than average if he weren't so creepy, staring like that, she thinks. But he has questionable fashion, she adds, because who wears a dark grey t-shirt with a hole in their chest, a hole that sparks and emits blue light. Oh and don't forget those worn, grease stained jeans in a fancy café like this one. Perhaps an actor, a performer, or a cosplayer, who knows…

Feeling uncomfortable, her gaze travels back to his face, and their eyes lock for a second. She doesn't like it. But she doesn't turn away. "If you value your normal life, leave. I am not interested." She turns and forces her eyes forward, away from him. When she wished she wasn't so alone, she didn't wish for a stalker.

The man raises his eyebrows, and replies. "You called me here."

"I don't need to hear your bad pickup lines, stalker."

"Stalker?!"

She feels vaguely smug, breaking his intent gaze on her with that incredulous look on his face. She still hopes he'll leave her alone though. For both their sakes. "Yes, so please leave before the police or something worse comes after you. I have plenty of pepper spray!" She shouts.

She looks to the window in her right, no black car with the Hydra sign yet, but they must be keeping close watch. In a second, however, she feels the weight of his gaze gone. She turns cautiously to her left, and he is nowhere to be seen. She doesn't bother to look for him, though it unsettles her she didn't even sense him leave.

She feels a chill roam down her spine, and she looks back across the street. A few moments later, the familiar Black Porsche is there to pick her up. Her senses are fine, she concludes.

She takes one last look at the cake, then gestures for the waitress. It's time to go.

* * *

Virginia Potts is back at her apartment, feeling quite hollow. She asks herself, _is this what being an adult is about?_ But, really, she just misses her best friend. It's her birthday—how much do the gods hate her?

She places the box with the cake Nat picked for her on the table. She opens it carefully, with a forlorn look. Maybe, if she wishes hard enough, Natasha will visit her here. After all, she did wish for company when she blew the candle earlier, and she received it, albeit in the form of a stalker that, thankfully, left her in peace after she threatened him to drown him in pepper spray. Maybe her wish just had to be more specific.

While she has learned during all these years not to hope, it was hard not to when it concerned the feeling of being totally alone in this world. Her heart warms a bit. She feels like a kid, but she lights the candle anyway.

She smiles at how silly she must look. She closes her eyes. "I wish my best friend will spend my birthday with me." She blows the candle out.

Eyes still closed, she waits for the ring of the bell. Or her phone.

She struggles to keep the smile on her face. Her shoulders drop. She releases a breath she didn't know she was holding, almost a sigh. _I'm so stupid,_ she thinks. Gods don't exist, and if they did, she reckons, they won't hear wishes made upon a messy half-burnt candle.

She opens her eyes and blinks twice.

The stalker is here again! Her eyes open wide.

Several thoughts go through her head and she doesn't know what to think but her body goes on autopilot and she drags the man inside her bathroom where she's sure there aren't any microphones planted by that bastard Obadiah Stane, locks the door, and tries to calm the fear in her heart.

_He's going to die. This stalker, whoever he is. They've seen him. The Hydra goons outside. I know they're keeping watch over me. They've seen him. He's going to die._

__

__

_Unless he's from Hydra too. Working for Stane? That would explain how I can't catch his sneaking around._

A different terror grips her.

_But I don't know him. Still, a lecherous man possibly from Hydra, and I just locked myself in the bathroom with him…_

He slams his right hand against the door, trapping her. Instantly, she gets herself together. After all, nothing can be worse than Obie and his shadow Rumlow. She turns and looks at him straight in the eye.

She plainly states, "You have no business being here." At the back of her mind, she's praying her tone is as flat as she usually uses. She can't really hear herself over her heartbeat.

"Then why did you call me?"

"Stalker, nobody called you." She's starting to relax, and she's not so sure if that's good. He raises his brow at her reply though, but she cuts him off before he can say anything. "Look, if you work for Stane, you have absolutely no business being here. I wasn't informed of a guard, and there is zero need for one. Not here."

The look of utter confusion in his face scares her; she doesn't want more dead bodies on her conscience.

 _Stane?_ Tony thinks, _what does she know about Obie and Stark Industries?_

"If you don't understand anything about what I just said, please just leave. And pray, if you're religious. You're going to need it if you want to live through this night alive. I'm not someone you should have wanted to talk to."

Their gazes lock, and she hopes her silent plea reaches him. Her senses are fine, and she didn't feel a chill from him. He must be innocent. As innocent as a stalker like him can be, she corrects herself, but she wouldn't wish the rage of Obadiah Stane and Hydra on anybody.

"Stalker, please leave. And just so you know, you're not winning any hearts, trapping me like this."

He scoffs at her obvious attempt to make him stop staring at her, and he hates to admit it, but it works because he couldn't help but break his observance to roll his eyes.

"Pepper spray, you must have summoned me using the candle." He starts to explain himself, "Or the cake. Happy birthday by the way."

Her eyes twitch a little and her brows rise, and she hates herself a little for sounding so ineloquent but all she can manage to say is, "Excuse me?"

"Am I wrong?" The dark haired man retorts staring at her.

Since he asked in a tone that clearly expressed that he didn't think he is, she narrows her eyes and answers acerbically, "Yes, because I didn't summon you here."

"I like feisty women, like you, Pepper." He smiles and then, almost preaching, he recites, "'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. There, Sherlock Holmes, for you.'"

"And the impossible is?"

"That I'm a stalker." He deadpans.

She struggles not to sigh. "I'd say it's highly likely you are one. Don't worry, you're not the first one."

Surprisingly for her, he looks very confident, and he challenges her, "Then, I'll prove it. I'll leave right now and you go and blow out that candle again."

This time, she laughs, and says, "Right, please do, off you go." When she remembers where they are though, she suddenly doesn't feel so entertained anymore. "But don't go through the front door. I'd say you have better chances leaving here through the fire exit. Or however it is you managed to slip in anyway. I won't ask: it's better that way."

Something grips him. Maybe it's the way her voice suddenly turns steely, or maybe it was how, in the short span he's seen her, she can look completely cut off that he knows he is here for a reason. Or maybe because it's been a while since he's actually enjoyed talking to someone.

Either way, he likes seeing her surprised, rather than having that empty look on her face. He leans forward, closer to her, just to get under her skin, really, and it works spectacularly, with her raising her brows at him, blue eyes seething with emotions, lips looking as if it'd permanently be in a scowl. She steps back, just a little since she's still trapped between the door and him, and she crosses her arms tighter to hug her body.

He whispers in her ear, "I'm going now, then."

In one swift, graceful motion, she fetches the small gun she's been taught to always carry and hide, pulls the safety off and points the barrel straight to the stalker's chest. "One more of your antics, and I'll willingly send you to your death. I'm playing nice right now, but do get it in your head that I can kill you. I'm not a helpless little girl."

 _Death, huh,_ he thinks. _I wish._ He backs off. He raises his hands in surrender, but not forgetting to reiterate his point, "Try blowing out the candle, though. And you'll know I'm right."

Her pointed stare makes it clear she is not amused. He's a bit uneasy, he doesn't want to scare her. "Again, I'm not a stalker. And you're not my type, sorry."

"That's very convincing coming from a trespasser who seems to enjoy close proximity with me."

"You're the one who dragged me here."

"I'm beginning to wish I hadn't and just let you die out there."

"I doubt anything outside can kill me."

"That's because you don't know what you just got yourself into."

"Regardless, I doubt I can be so easily killed. You do realize I was summoned here. By you. And if you're a normal person that makes me what?"

"A delusional stalker."

"Seriously? We're on this again?"

"Yes, so leave already."

"You know what, yes, I'm leaving and don't you dare close your eyes within these five seconds." He's exasperated. And he doesn't want to admit he's only leaving now because she's talking to him again. Before she blinks though, he does leave…

He just disappeared.

Into thin air.

On Virginia Pott's birthday, she thinks she might have just gone crazy. For starters, she's beginning to call herself Pepper in her mind, the nickname that Stalker gave her. Wouldn't be so illogical to think so. After all she's been kidnapped and forced to work in a hidden lab developing a biological weapon for a terrorist organization no one even knows exists: Hydra. They killed her parents before her own eyes, that bastard Obadiah Stane. And now they just kidnapped her best friend, Natasha, a spy of SHIELD, a rival agency, who tried to save her. And they never let Virginia see her again. They let her know Natasha is still alive and she will stay that way for as long as she complies, developing that drug they want. Virginia's a scientist. She prides herself for approaching problems and curiosities logically and methodically. However irrational the situation is, she is certain she can adapt and make sense of it.

But is it possible she has lost her mind? She witnessed a man disappear in front of her eyes. Her family has no history of mental instability as far as she knows, though she guesses anyone would break given her circumstances. But she has never shown any sign of insanity. Or maybe she has been desensitized to madness given her environment?

_Calm down, Pepper, panic never did anyone any good. Breathe in, breathe out._

Okay, acknowledge that insanity is a possibility. Best to think of other possibilities.

She remembers the cake and the candle and she automatically rejects the thought that the man that just disappeared was summoned by her birthday wish.

But really, she can't think of any other option. It's either she's crazy or he's right. She doesn't know which one she prefers.

She gathers her bearings and gets out of her bathroom. She sits, looking dazedly at the table all the while. She idly thinks, _maybe I should make him wait 'til I summon him again._

She hates that she thinks he's right. So smug and handsome and…

He might as well wait for a few hours before she tries it again. He did irritate her after all. Maybe that will teach him not to mess with her.

Okay, this feels weird, she thinks. She thinks she's accepting this too easily, and it makes her feel off-balance, recognizing that she's suddenly making way for the entrance of a person into her life. Teach him not to mess with her? Because he'll have opportunities to do so? Hydra won't allow for this kind of daydream.

It's her birthday, though, so she shakes it off, and makes herself believe she'll be blowing that candle later for science. She proceeds to try to not think of anything for the next few hours.

* * *

Tony Stark has been trying to wire together this engine for quite some time now. The blueprint stares mockingly at him. He started trying to focus into his work when he grew tired of pacing back and forth in his workshop, followed around by Dum-E and You, which he did when he decided to think that he's right and he's going to get summoned by that red headed girl with the fiery blue eyes at any moment now. Looks stupid when he waits for 30 minutes and that woman, Pepper, didn't summon him.

Or maybe she couldn't? She did say she wasn't calling him there. And how does she even do it? Is she, perhaps…

...Or maybe something happened to her? There was an undercurrent of fear in her about everything, except for a moment then. Seems like she's heavily guarded if even her living room isn't safe.

She mentioned a secret organisation and surveillance. She's either a very important member, or a very important hostage. Given her gun training, it's more likely she's part of it. But…

Either way, a highly valuable asset of a sinister-sounding group which seemingly kills threats on sight.

Perhaps he's been disinterested in the world for too long. For him not to notice trouble brewing in his own city… Maybe he's been too self-absorbed? Or is this terrorist organisation not as big and threatening as she had made it sound? The gravity of her stare, the firmness of her grip on the gun against his chest, pointer finger on the trigger, safety off—

It's late and he idly thinks that he should have just gone back to whatever party his father figure, Obadiah Stane, forced him to attend. Obie… He said he hosted it in order to give him a break from his self imposed hermitry. Well, that certainly happened today, no thanks to the party. Tony sincerely hoped no one had been watching him when he disappeared out of the blue. Twice. Why would this Pepper spray girl mention him, Stane?

_Wretched woman, why don't you just blow the damn candle already so I can stop messing this thing up, change and sleep?! I need answers, damn it!_

* * *

It's been weeks now, since Tony Stark had seen the red headed woman, and he likes to think the encounter was a boredom-induced fever dream.

He thinks to himself he could try to find her, but he doesn't _want_ to. After all, the cafeteria where they first met is also one he goes to. His visits there have been especially frequent the past few weeks, not because he wants to see her, of course, but because he really missed their excellent coffee, he reasons to himself.

He could try to find where she lives, but when the thought so much as crosses his mind, he hears her call him "Stalker" in such an annoying lilt that a scowl automatically shows itself on his face. It's not because he can't deduce where she lives when her curtains were all closed and all she mentioned was there was a fire exit.

Not that he asked JARVIS to find her. JARVIS is trying anyway, but there's not much information he can work with to begin with. Okay, he gives up, he _did_ ask JARVIS to find her but not because he's worried. Only to know if she really did try summoning him and failed, in which case, he was wrong. And knowing when one is wrong is of utmost importance!

So, the woman and their meeting was a boredom-induced fever dream.

Finally getting up and leaving the cafeteria where all his current troubles started, he resolves to go home and forget about it for the seventh time that day. His hand approaches the door…

And suddenly he's face-to-face with the bright blue-eyed woman he has not been searching for. At all. Nope.

He would have laughed at how hard he's trying to deny everything, but the moment their eyes met, the flash of surprise on her face, (that really isn't that cute, he tells himself), was wiped from his mind when she started crying and laughing in this awful, broken way. She's gripping the just blown candle like a lifeline, smoke quickly clearing and he can't look away.

He doesn't know how long it takes, but she calms down.

"You're right," she finally says, "I blow a candle, and you'll appear."

He realises he doesn't really care that he's right. "Admitting that made you cry that much?"

She ignores him. Instead, she asks, "So, who are you?"

"I'll answer if you tell me what happened."

"Care to be more specific?"

"Why didn't you call me right away that night? Why the hell are you crying? And," he looks around him, "Why are we in a lab of some sorts?"

"You sound like such a smartass…"

"Because I am. Smart, I mean. I'm a genius." He clarifies mater of factly. "Certified. I think I can help you…"

"Ugh, shut up."

"If I do, you won't get the answers you want. Uh? Feisty Pepper, don't be difficult. Is this lab inside the lair of that secret organisa—"

She visibly shivers, and abruptly says, "Leave. Now."

"You called me here."

"And now I'm telling you to leave."

"Don't be stupid, something's obviously happened to you."

"And something worse is about to happen." She opens her drawer and gets a solitary pill from a case and pockets it. She continues, "Leave now, before they see you… or can they? Are you a ghost?"

"Yes, other people can see me. So what if they see me?"

"I'm supposed to be alone," she chuckles darkly.

"I doubt they can do anything to me."

"Leave."

"Okay, but this time promise me you'll call immediately after whatever it is."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Seriously?"

"No."

"Pepper, please…"

She looks dead straight into his big brown eyes, "Goodbye, Stalker."

"Whatever, see you in a bit, red headed, stubborn, blue-eyed woman!"

A small smile breaks on her face, and he thinks maybe he should call her names more often if that's what happens when he does. Because her being silent is preferable to her acerbic replies, of course, not because of anything else.

Oh right, her name, not Pepper, her REAL name what is it?

Just as Tony was about to ask her, she turns around to face the door, arms crossed, hands clutching her lab coat and, the door unlocks with a beep.

"Potts."

A dark gravelly voice was the last thing he heard before he left. A sad, helpless feeling that he should have just taken her with him and left there together lingers inside his heart.

* * *

_She promised me. Pepper._ It's been days and he hasn't seen her. Deja vu.

_Except this time, she promised me._

It's raining hard outside in New York. He's depressed, as much as he wants to deny it. He's been wanting to deny so many things since he met her, and he's tired. He knows he should have just grabbed her and left. He's been amusing himself with the idea that she'll start calling him "Kidnapper" instead of only "Stalker" but then his mind wonders if she really did get kidnapped by that man with the dark voice that called her "Potts". Then he gets depressed all over again.

JARVIS found nothing on "Potts" Just a family. Dad, mom, two daughters who died 5 years ago in an accidental fire of their house. Can't be her. She's alive.

No records. No leads. No tracks. Nothing.

How do you find a woman that doesn't exist?

He, Tony Stark, the man cursed by the gods with immortality and powers he did not want. Powers that can grant immense wealth, decimate a city, and even affect life, but are apparently not enough to locate a single human.

He, the man cursed to watch people pass with time, forced to live as discreetly and under the radar as he can. With as few attachments as he can. But he goes and associates with that woman, that strange girl who can call him with a candle.

And he loses her, like he has lost many others, but in record time.

Days like these, when his everyday numbness makes way for several lifetimes worth of self-hate and hopelessness, the blue arc, the seal of his curse, throbs painfully in his chest. But he cannot die. He cannot die. Even when he tried. Until he finds his Soulmate, who can free him from his curse of a life. Until his Soulmate can take out the blue arc reactor impaled on his chest, which only him and his Soulmate can see.

If only he could find his Soulmate… The one he has been searching for all these centuries… Tony Stark doubts he even can find that woman called Potts.

For someone so powerful, it has been a long while since he felt so helpless. He laughs bitterly at the irony of all this.

Dark clouds loom even heavier, and lightning strikes in the distance.

His self-loathing worsens the weather. Another power he doesn't want. A curse. What his eternal life has become.

He hears Rhodey's footsteps, and he can already imagine him knocking and begging Tony to stop moping. He shouts, "I know, I know! I'll get myself together and stop making it rain."

His best friend and roomate, James Rhodes replies, to his surprise, "Ah, no, Tony, it's not that. There's a girl that's collapsed outside our gate! I took her in but she's burning up..." His voice is trailing as he goes in different rooms and rummages through drawers.

Tony feels a tug in his heart. Somehow, it feels like he's responsible for this girl he doesn't even know. Is it his conscience berating him for making it rain and rendering a girl helpless under the torrential rain?

He gets up and leaves his room. He follows the sound of his best friend's hectic footsteps and reaches the room where the girl is.

"Ah, Tony, we've run out of fever medicine, so I'll be leaving in a bit to buy more. Do you have anything you'd like for me to pick up on the way? ...Tony?"

Tony is frozen in place, staring at the shivering, unconscious girl laid on the bed in front of him.

The spitting image of Pepper. Except a kid. Her younger sister?

Rhodey's voice reaches him, and he snaps back from his thoughts. "Tony? Do you know her?"

"...No." He continues to stare. "...But she looks like that woman."

"You mean, the woman we can't find any traces of? That not even JARVIS can find?"

"Yes, Potts. That one."

"But Tony, I thought we were talking about a young woman, you said she looked around 25 years old… Not…"

"Not a kid, yes, but she really looks like her. She's either a relative or… This is all just a coincidence and I'm going crazy." He turns to his best friend, "Either way, I can't get any answers from an unconscious kid. I'll watch over her until you come back."

James agrees, and leaves. Tony sits down in the chair next to the bed where she lays. Outside, the relentless rain settles into a light drizzle.

She doesn't wake up until the next day.

* * *

A little girl opens her eyes to a foreign ceiling, and suddenly feels how different the bed she's lying in feels. Then it hits her, she ran away. She ran away and she's alive. She wonders if she's lucky… Is surviving better than dying when her world is empty, her own self stained black, blood in her hands indistinguishable from her victims, her own and her best friend's… _Natasha._ They killed her and Rumlow was back to end the job and kill her too. That's why she took the pill, her own invention, the venom. But instead of killing her…

No shivers… Looks like she's safe from Hydra for now, she thinks, but best to be careful. She takes in the rest of the room, and, when her gaze finally rests to her left, her eyes widen, and she doesn't know what to feel.

"Good morning."

She doesn't say anything. She stares at the young man by her bedside, voice caught in her throat.

He reaches towards her. She flinches, but his movements are quick, his touch light. The man's hand is big against her small forehead. "Your fever's gone down."

Of all the questions in her mind, she asks, "Are you my guardian angel?"

Tony Stark isn't the type to be so touchy, but such an innocent question from a little girl makes him ruffle her hair and chuckle. "Why do you think so?"

She sits up, carefully, and he assists her. She reaches towards him so he leans closer to the bed, and then, she places her hand on his cheek. He's confused as hell but she looks like she's concentrating, thinking, and it looks adorable, so he stays still.

She pinches him. Hard. "Ow!"

Not minding him, she asks, "If so, then why can I touch you? Am I the only one that can?"

He'd be angry if he wasn't so amused. Rubbing his cheek, he denies, "I'm not an angel."

"Then what are you? How did you find me?"

"You collapsed in front of my home."

The girl's eyes widen a bit, her eyebrows raised in surprise. In a second, she lowers her eyes, not quite seeing anything, her tiny right hand poised on her chin and cheek in what Tony assumes is her thinking pose. She doesn't say anything for a while.

He prods, "Do you have anyone we can contact?"

She doesn't respond.

"Perhaps, your mother? Father? Sister?"

On his last word, he catches a glimpse of emotion in her eyes, gone quickly like many of her reactions.

She looks at him and says, "They're all dead."

Rain pours, and in a moment, loud thunder breaks their gazes. She looks away, turning instead to the window, and continues, "I have no one left."

This rouses the frozen Tony Stark. He wasn't… isn't called a genius for no reason. The young woman could be this kid's aunt or niece or be completely unrelated... No matter how improbable. Finding Potts isn't impossible after all.

"No other relatives?" He asks, almost with bated breath, almost wishing she'd remember one, Pepper, Potts, remember her...

"None..."

The little girl watches as the rain worsens into a deluge, big splatters on the window blurring the view outside. As bleak as her future from hereon, she thinks. But at least it's not black.

She feels empty.

The rain lets up a bit.

"Don't worry." He says, breaking the silence. She almost forgot he was there. She turns to him.

"Don't worry." He continues. "I'll find her."

Eyes resolute, he gazes at her with a conviction she wishes she had. Confused at his words, though, she asks, "Her?"

"Ah, a relative. Unless I confirm it myself, it's too early to judge it as true."

He's strangely adamant about finding her relatives. Almost a bit desperate. "If I don't know about them, I doubt they'd know about me."

"But just finding them would be good, no?"

 _Is he trying to get rid of me?_ "I'm a burden. I understand." _I would have appreciated a straightforward comment, honestly._

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" Visibly frazzled, he slams his hands on the bed when scratching his head for answers didn't work. She scoots just a bit farther from the edge where he's acting up, clutching the blankets closer to her. "But we'll find her, I'm sure."

"Okay, Stalker, whatever you say..." She'll have to go soon. Can't have all the Hydra agents discovering this place and whoever… Whatever… This man is.

"Mmhmm. Don't worry okay? ...Wait." He freezes up. "What did you just call me?"

And it suddenly dawns on her why this Stalker is so insistent on finding her relatives. And why he isn't asking anything about what happened since they last met. He doesn't recognize her. She looks at herself. Small legs and hands. He doesn't recognize her because she turned into a kid. The venom worked. But it didn't kill her… It turned her into a kid.

She laughs, hard.

"Stalker? Did you just call me Stalker?" He's completely bewildered now, she can only imagine what his face would look like if she told him what really happened.

Should she lie? Tell the truth? Would he even believe her if she did?

"Yes, Stalker."

Tentatively, he asks, "Did you… Did your older sister tell you to call me that?"

"No, she would never. My sister... I only ever had a best friend left. Her name…" She sobs a little. "Her name was Natasha Romanoff, she worked for SHIELD, was undercover on Hydra… The organisation… She tried to… Tried to help me get out there. She's dead."

"I'm so sorry for your loss." He adds, worried. He's burning with questions.

"Is it because... Your sister or your best friend called me that?"

 _Does he think I'm… That my woman self is my best friend or my sister?_ She laughs harder. Nat was red headed too after all.

"Hey, kid!" Tony calls exasperated.

Speaking between giggles, she answers him, "No. No, she doesn't. She couldn't. She died so long ago… My sister… And for Natasha… She never knew about you. I never told her."

"Eh?"

Virginia Potts decides she can tell him. Not that he'd believe her. Or anyone would believe him if he tells it. "You're my Stalker. I'm the woman you were stalking. Except now I'm a kid. So you'd be charged with even more crimes if you continue stalking me, uncle."

"Eh? Then you're… Eh? It can't be!" Tony's eyes widen. "Thats's not a believable explanation"

"Yes, Stalker. You see, I'm a brilliant scientist. They kidnapped me when I was 20 years old, fresh from MIT. I always was a genius in bioengineering. That bastard, their leader Obadiah Stane, set fire to the house with my parents and younger sister inside. They covered the story, for everyone else, I died there too. With my family. I've been developing a new venom for Hydra for the past 5 years. It's a new biological weapon that could kill one man or even thousands, instantly, without leaving a trace. Fast, strong, lethal. My studies were on Trial Phase 0, never proved in humans. All my lab rats died. I thought… When they said they'd killed Natasha, that traitorous snake, and that I was next… I thought it would be better if I killed myself with my creation. Don't give them the pleasure of killing me. You know? Next thing I know, I'm here, in your house, Stalker."

Tony's in shock now. Did she just say Obadiah Stane… His Obie is the boss of those murderers? What the hell? His mind is racing now, did he fund that Hydra organisation with the money _"Stark Industries"_ provides? Is he indirectly causing all the pain Pepper has been enduring for years? He has to do something.

"Look, do you have a name, Pepper?" He finally can say.

"Virginia," the little girl says, "Virginia Potts." She smiles. "And yours, Stalker?"

He breathes hard and finally says.

"Tony, Tony Stark." He extends his hand towards hers.

She frozes in the spot.

"From _Stark Industries_?" He nods in a silent yes. She then yells, "You are the Source, Stalker! Oh my God. I can't believe it. That bastard Stane… You didn't know… Did you?"

"What?" He pulled back his extended hand and closed both of his hands in a fist. Hard.

"Stane always said you were, "THE SOURCE" all the power of Hydra came from your inventions and the money too. You have been making all the money for him during all those years. His criminal organisation, Hydra. You've been funding it. Unwillingly and unknowingly, sure. He always prided himself to say you were distracted, you would never suspect a thing…" Virginia stopped talking as Tony's hard expression upset her as his knuckles were turning white.

His rage owerhelms him, he can't believe it. Obie had been like a father to him for such long time… And all these years he'd been murdering people, running a secret mob gang behind his back? Why? What the hell? Now he finally understood all that encouraging from Stane, to make Tony drink and party all the time. "No need for you to be there." He'd said over and over again when he tried to go to meetings with their clients, try to sell some new idea to the board... _Now everything makes sense,_ Tony thinks. He'd always had to keep a low profile because of his condition. And Stane took advantage of him. It's all so clear now. Pepper is shaking, looking at him with those wide blue eyes. She's gone through so much already. He believes her. Has to do something for her.

"I'll help you end him." He finally said. "Stane, that traitor. That bastard. He said he was my friend. I trusted him with my company, my inventions… And he's being doing this… Behind my back? He's evil. We'll stop him. We'll end Hydra. I promise you, Potts."

His determination impressed Virginia. Her face was soft with a tiny smile, she took his big hands in hers and looked straight into his brown eyes.

"It's a promise, Stalker. We'll take him and his organisation down. But first I'll need you to help me reverse the effects of my drug. I need my adult body back. Yeah, let's start with a lab. Do you think you could get me one?"

Tony smiled. Of course he could do that. He had lots of labs at his disposal. Engineering and reverse engineering. That was his field. And with Pepper being brilliant in hers… That he could do. He could help her get her body back. It could only take some weeks for two brilliant brains like theirs working together in one of his best labs. "Yes." He only said.

"And what the hell, you do cosplay even indoors? In your own home? Stalker, uh Tony… I don't know if you're good or bad, or what you actually are, but you're certainly weird."

"Cosplay? What is it now, Pepper or, Virginia? Ugh! Why do you think I'm a weirdo doing cosplay in a comic convention? Explain!"

His befuddled face is so comical, it's insane. She laughs. Outside the rain has stopped.

She continues, "Yeah, do you really have to keep that bright blue metal arc stuck in your chest even at home?"

He freezes up. She's confused. Suddenly it isn't so funny anymore.

A flash of light. And roaring thunder.

"What?" He asks her, unsmiling, staring straight into her blue eyes. It makes her nervous. Perhaps she shouldn't have questioned his fashion choices, his quirks…

"Nothing."

"You can see the blue arc in my chest?"

Shouldn't she?

"Pepper, you can see the arc reactor?" He asks, eyes wide with surprise.

She realizes then that she had taken for granted his comforting, familiar presence. He's somehow intimidating. But she had faced worse henchmen, spies and mad scientists in her short life.

"What if I can?" She challenges him.

Another flash of light and deafening thunder.

He cannot die. Even when he tried. Until he finds his Soulmate, who can free him from his curse of a life. Until his Soulmate can take out the blue arc reactor impaled on his chest, which only him and his Soulmate can see.

**Author's Note:**

> Sixth prompt for Pepperony Week 2018 was Soulmates.
> 
> This story is an AU and it's heavily based in a japanese anime/manga series called Meitantei Conan, by Gosho Aoyama. Pepper's character here is modeled after Shiho Miyano/Ai Haibara a young scientist in biochemics, and Tony's character is modeled after Shinichi Kudo/Conan Edogawa a young detective. The Black Organisation is here Hydra. Adapting it to the "Iron Man" world and changing the dynamic of their relationship to fit #Pepperony has been lots of fun. Obviously some magic and fantasy references and other things are invented by me, in order to make the story work.
> 
> Hope you liked it! :)
> 
> A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Rebelmeg, my awesome beta. She helped me a lot.
> 
> All mistakes in English are mine and only mine. ^^


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